my new bike/chari and I hit the pavement in Tokyo

Upsizing: troubles in geometry

After riding Florence for the summer, I now know that lovely as she is, she is too small a frame for me. A super long seat post has not fixed the problem and I still hang off the back of the seat.

This bike thing is a learning process. And I am making a lot of mistakes. On the up side, I can probably sell Florence for as much as she cost, so there is no net loss.

So this weekend, I thought I would try and upsize since I found a very similar frame in a larger size. This made sense to me, since I could then switch out parts pretty easily from the two and take the best of both worlds.

After a long drive out to the countryside to see the bike, this Fleetwing was a bit more dinged up, but overall a good frame. We even took a tape measure. I was disappointed to find that this bike was not that much bigger, maybe and inch or two, than Florence.

But, after some humming and ha-ing, we did buy her, thinking that any increase in size would at least be a benefit.

When we got home and compared them, there is only about an inch difference in the tube length. I’m a bit disappointed.

We will have to see if this makes much of a difference at all. You know, in an ideal world, I would go out, and buy the perfect bike in the perfect size, possibly new. But in the real world, second hand bike buying is an imperfect science, and new bikes get stolen every day. Two dear friends had their bikes stolen this week, and one from right where I park mine everyday.

I’m smitten.

Last year I decided to ditch the train in Tokyo and go by bike. I bought a Bridgestone 3 speed and off I went. What I didn't realize was that I would become completely smitten by both riding, and bikes themselves. Now I'm back in Toronto (for the time being, and I still keep that Bridgestone in Tokyo for when I am there) and still riding, and somehow acquiring bicycles.
I'm now up to six: the original Bridgestone (Mabel), a Danish Viva Bellisimo (Maru), a 1966 CCM single speed cruiser (Grover), a fold up I've had for several years (Paris), and a Fleetwing Deluxe Mixte 10-speed (Florence), and now a 3 speed Raleigh Sports I rescued from being dumped (Riley)
To me, these are my adventures...

Maru, a Vivo Bellissimo

Grover

My Paris (almost)

This is almost a photo of my fold up bike. She is a bright shiny girl for 9 years old, and works hard.

Mabel, my Beaute

This is my stable work ride, my Bridgestone 2010 Beaute. No, really, that's the model name, I didn't name my bike that. She's a strong work horse, but a heavy girl, and currently stuck in Tokyo for a bit